Dust In The Wind

For those who dealt with the placeholder for the last few days, you now know there was a method to my madness with the music I presented for your listening pleasure, hence the title of the trip report.

Wednesday August 20

My initial plans were to fly out of Boston early Thursday Morning which would force me to crash overnight inside the airport, hence a deal came my way which allowed me to take half a day off work and fly out of Providence Wednesday afternoon.

Arriving at my layover, Midway I was famished since I only had a small protein bar for lunch previously...Well..what else would I have when there's only time for one meal in Chicago at the airport?

When I left Providence it was a beautiful, dry sunny 80 degree day which considering how this summer has gone, that was actually one of our warmer days...

However when I arrived in Wichita the temps had just fallen to about 95 degrees....It was HOT and HUMIDAnyway arriving just before 6pm CDT I had to get my rental, have dinner and then make it to the 7:05 ballgame. I managed to grab my rental in a hurry, and I mean in a hurry, I didn't even realize that they downsized me from a compact to an economy car- a chevy spark! It actually made my old Tercel look huge...

My first stop was actually one of the weaker meals of the trip, but it was close to the ballpark and I needed to get something to eat in a jiffy..

Memories of that Garlic Salad from 4 years ago came back to me....It was overly pungent......I honestly don't remember the garlic salad at Doc's Steakhouse being that overpowering. Unfortunately, I would not get to Doc's on this trip.

Home of the unaffiliated independent Wichita Wingnuts and former home of the Double A Wichita Wranglers.... The Wingnuts were hosting the Lincoln Salt Dogs that evening , and I assume they're from Lincoln Nebraska...

This is a classic old school ballpark built in the 1930's.... It's such a nice ballpark perfect for double a baseball. It's a shame that Wichita no longer has affiliated baseballThe only negative about the ballpark- Astroturf! Who really still uses that?

Considering the one hour time change and the fact that I got up early so I could get out of work early made me give up after 2 1/2 hours barely out of the 5th inning with a score of 12-11 and the Wingnuts winning...I drove the short distance to my hotel which was just under a mile away

I eventually found out that the game lasted nearly 4 hours and the final score was 20- 12 Wingnuts..

The day may come when I wake up and we run out of bandwith...Besides, I just wanted to provide some music for your listening pleasure.

Lleechef

Oddly enough all througout my trip, when ever I got into my rental car that song would constantly be playing in the background and the radio wasn't even on....When I entered Oklahoma it stopped....When I returned back to Kansas...the same song started up again!

The day may come when I wake up and we run out of bandwith...Besides, I just wanted to provide some music for your listening pleasure.

Lleechef

Oddly enough all througout my trip, when ever I got into my rental car that song would constantly be playing in the background and the radio wasn't even on....When I entered Oklahoma it stopped....When I returned back to Kansas...the same song started up again!

Talk about a 'haunting' refrain, hardy har har! Yes, you may hit me once for free!

WJ, do you remember if any of the ballplayers had connections to the big leagues? I see that one of the pitchers was named Capra and I immediately thought of Buzz Capra of the Atlanta Braves back in the '70s. Independent baseball...it's a wonderful life.

I doubt any of the current Wingnuts have ever experienced the majors. I checked the roster and it appears as late as last year, a couple got a taste of triple A ball but were most likely released. Others came directly from college, some from single a and a small handful from double A. Again, I suspect they were likely released

TinTinCT

Very similar to slaw, word has it that lettuce may used in lieu of cabbage. Also the dressing is super creamy and thick

I hadn't thought of Kief's in years. In 85 I had a roommate from Indonesia who dropped $5,000.00 for a sound system there. We were living in the dorms and the high end sound system was wasted reverberating off the Cinder Block walls.

I doubt any of the current Wingnuts have ever experienced the majors. I checked the roster and it appears as late as last year, a couple got a taste of triple A ball but were most likely released. Others came directly from college, some from single a and a small handful from double A. Again, I suspect they were likely released

It doesn't appear that any of the Wingnuts were ever in the big leagues, but the manager for the opposing team is former Atlanta Brave (and former Mets minor league manager) Ken Oberkfell.

Garlic Salad is apparently a local specialty in Wichita, served at a few restaurants, however I'm almost certain it was invented at Doc's Steakhouse. I could be wrong, however I'm sure Michael Stern would have more knowledge about that. It's basically a slaw with either finely shredded cabbage or lettuce with a thick, creamy garlic dressing.

Lleechef

This is the other song I always associate with Kansas (the state) which is more from my era however I liked the title of "Dust in he Wind" better